The Martial Lord of the Troubled World

Chapter 26 Shengchang Xiangshe
Fu Juemin walked out of the training room, where two servants were waiting at the door. He pointed inside and casually instructed them, "Tidi up inside."

The servant agreed, and after walking a few steps down the corridor, he bumped into Li Tong, who was standing with his hands behind his back under the porch, looking up at the flock of birds flying overhead.

He called out "Uncle Tong," and Li Tong turned around and smiled at him. After he finished showering, changed his clothes, and came downstairs, Li Tong was nowhere to be seen.

Since Fu Juemin advanced to the Bone Forging stage, Li Tong no longer watched him practice martial arts all day long.

Fu Juemin had always felt that Li Tong was not very willing to teach him. All along, Li Tong had only been honest and straightforward with him, without any sentimentality.

He only taught me martial arts because of his father, Fu Guosheng.
Five minutes later, Fu Juemin got into the car that the butler, Uncle Chen, had prepared in advance, gave the driver an instruction, and the car slowly drove out of the Fu family gate.

"Young Master, where are we going today?"

Qian Fei rode his bicycle alongside the car, leaning closer to speak to Fu Juemin.

After their trip to Taoxiang Village, Qian Fei and his companion seemed to have completely accepted Fu Juemin as one of their own, even omitting the "Fu" in their address and directly calling him "Young Master."

"Shenggong Street".

Fu Juemin replied and then rolled up the car window. Qian Fei, being sensible, slowed down the car, afraid that he would block Fu Juemin's view of the scenery outside.

Sitting in the car, Fu Juemin's fingers caressed the jade buckle on his sleeve, and the image of a certain person popped into his mind.

Zhou Yunzhi.

He had almost forgotten about this person.

His second uncle, Fu Guoping, told him to continue to contact the other party whenever he had time, so as to draw out the person behind the attempt to kill him. He planned to start doing this today.

The St. John's Girls' School is located in the west of Luanhe City. It was founded in the early years by a Western priest.

After the establishment of the Republic of China, the school was taken over by the government and became a semi-public girls' middle school, mainly relying on government subsidies and donations from all sectors of society to maintain itself.

The Fu family also donates a large sum of money to St. Kung Girls' School every year. Strictly speaking, Fu Guosheng can be considered a member of the school's board of directors.

The car drove for a short while before arriving at the destination.

A few rickshaws and vendors gathered at the school gate. Under an apricot tree on the right, there was a simple shack where teachers and students of Shenggong Academy would distribute porridge on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month.

Through the car window, Fu Juemin saw the newly painted white spire of the Western-style church on campus, shining brightly in the sunlight, with several white doves flying on top.

There was still some time before school let out for lunch, and the driver in the front seat turned around and asked, "Young master, should we drive in?"

Clearly, the original owner had done this quite a few times before.

Fu Juemin shook his head, pondered for a moment, and said, "Never mind, let's go to the main street first."

"Yes, Master."

The car started up again, wobbling, and turned around, heading east of the city.

"Dajie" does not refer to the name of a specific street, but rather to a place.

The most bustling and prosperous area in Luanhe County.

In this small area, there are more than a hundred silk shops, clothing stores, general stores, pharmacies, gambling dens, as well as tea shops, restaurants, barbershops, trading companies, and photography studios.

The streets were crowded with all kinds of vendors: storytellers, fortune tellers, cart pullers, people going to the market, shoppers, and errand runners, creating a vivid picture of the diverse lives of people in Republican-era society.

The car couldn't go any further at the intersection, so Qian Fei and Ma Daikui had to push their bicycles. Fu Juemin simply got off the car and walked slowly down the street.

He was dressed in an expensive, handmade suit, walking down a bustling yet shabby street, looking completely out of place with everything around him.

The pedestrians around him, mostly dressed in coarse cloth short jackets, looked at him with curiosity and awe. Fu Juemin originally wanted to experience the atmosphere of the city, but every two steps he took, he was blocked by small vendors holding various kinds of food and rickshaw pullers.

When Qian Fei and his companion, who had been following behind, were grumbling and rubbing their shoes, which had accidentally gotten dirty, against the roadside bricks for the third time, Fu Juemin finally made a helpless decision: "Let's go to Xinjie."

New Street is located right next to the main street. It's lined with gold shops, banks, and various upscale restaurants and teahouses. Once you turn onto New Street, the number of pedestrians noticeably decreases, the noise subsides, and even the air feels much fresher.

"Did Second Uncle sell that snake demon from Peach Blossom Village last time?"

Fu Juemin took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands and asked the two people beside him as he walked.

"It was loaded onto the ship last week."

This time, the Tianjin Sea was delivered.

Qian Fei suddenly added, "There's something I almost forgot to tell the young master. The second master wants you to visit him when you have time. He has prepared some nice things for you."

"oh?!"

Fu Juemin blinked, then remembered that Fu Guoping had indeed mentioned giving him a gift last time.

"Master."

Qian Fei looked up at the increasingly scorching sun and whispered to Fu Juemin, "Why don't we find a place to sit? It's so stuffy, and we're all sweaty from being squeezed in this crowd."

"it is good."

Fu Juemin looked up and saw a sign across the street that was neither Chinese nor foreign, with the four large characters "Shengchang Xiangshe" written on it and a line of smaller foreign characters below.

"Let's go there."

Fu Juemin pointed to the unusual glass door under the sign and the various flower pots placed under the porch, and said casually.

Shengchang Xiangshe is the only high-end Western restaurant in Luanhe County. It is said that the chefs there are returned from studying abroad and specialize in Western cuisine.

His predecessor had been there a few times, and Fu Juemin thought the taste was just so-so. Now he wanted to go in and take a look, mainly because the restaurant also sold coffee, and he wanted to taste the coffee from the Republican era.

"We're really lucky today, we get to go to a Western restaurant with the young master."

Qian Fei rubbed his hands together with a grin, looking eager to get started, while Ma Daikui remained silent beside him.

Fu Juemin smiled and led the two toward the restaurant.

Just as I was about to cross the street, a car drove up and stopped right in front of the restaurant.

Fu Juemin glanced casually at the car, but stopped abruptly the next second.

Three people got out of the car.

One of them was a blond, bearded foreigner, and a slick-haired man with round-framed glasses followed behind him like a lapdog. As for the last person...
She was dressed in a smart and capable outfit... Xu Leyi!
The bearded, blond foreigner got out of the car and offered to help Xu Leyi out, but Xu Leyi didn't take his hand and got out of the car on her own.

As she got out of the car, she was met with a gaze from Fu Juemin, who was not far away. Xu Leyi was visibly startled.

But soon, Xu Leyi's gaze returned to normal, and she turned her head away nonchalantly, as if she hadn't seen him at all.

Fu Juemin squinted as he watched Xu Leyi walk and chat with the blond, bearded foreigner into the restaurant, speaking fluent Victorian. The sycophantic translator, now useless, followed behind them with a frustrated expression.

"Master."

Qian Fei seemed to sense that something was wrong with Fu Juemin's expression and cautiously asked, "Shall we still go in?"

"never mind."

Fu Juemin withdrew his gaze from the restaurant, casually chose another teahouse on the street, and said, "Let's go there."

Five minutes later, on the second floor of a teahouse directly opposite Shengchang Xiangshe, Fu Juemin sat alone at a table by the window, drinking tea and looking at the glass door across the street.

(End of this chapter)